


Ben Solo and the Bug Holders

by SoThisIsAThingIWrote



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is alive, F/M, Post Tros Canon Divergence, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoThisIsAThingIWrote/pseuds/SoThisIsAThingIWrote
Summary: How was he to know that the bugs he'd set free decades ago were, in fact, exceptionally long lived, possessed of above average intelligence for an insect, and seemed to hold some sort of collective memory?Because they clearly remembered him. Ben had scrambled to his feet, dislodging several creatures from his shoulders and hair, already stepping forward to explain - which was of course the perfect time for the bugs to try to pick him up again, which was slightly embarrassing (but also kind of nice). When a combination of Ben's increase in height, weight and sudden flailing had made that impossible, they'd taken to following him around instead.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	Ben Solo and the Bug Holders

**Author's Note:**

> What happens when you have a terrible week? You write the most saccharine thing ever....and you don't. care.

In retrospect, he possibly should have warned them. It might have saved Poe some song and dance with a suspicious local population. 

Though, in his defense, he didn't really know they needed to be warned, now did he? After all, it wasn't like he knew the bugs were going to remember him. They're bugs. For all he knew, they had a life span of days. True, he had sensed something special about them the last time, but he was also only six years old at the time. He'd also thought he sensed something special about his favourite cup, or the raggedy doll his father had twisted out of an old rebel flight suit for him.

So how was he to know that the bugs he'd set free decades ago were, in fact, exceptionally long lived, possessed of above average intelligence for an insect, and seemed to hold some sort of collective memory? 

Because they clearly remembered him. While the rest of the group was on a tour of the settlement, Ben had settled down and closed his eyes to meditate in the garden of the guest quarters they'd been installed in. When he'd opened them again, it was to a garden awash with luminous blue butterflies, and a gawking service staff. Ben had scrambled to his feet, dislodging several creatures from his shoulders and hair, already stepping forward to explain - which was of course the perfect time for the bugs to try to pick him up again, which was slightly embarrassing (but also kind of nice). When a combination of Ben's increase in height, weight and sudden flailing had made that impossible, they'd taken to following him around instead. 

Which worked out well, since it turns out the bugs were held in reverence by the planet's natives. Suddenly their little group went from being viewed with no small amount of suspicion to being offered the best of the best - food, wine, accomodation and, best of all, access to the sacred temple's  _ library,  _ which he happily spent the better part of the day in until Rey dragged him (and a small cloud of butterflies) out for dinner. 

They'd eaten in the same garden, and Rey hadn't been able to stop laughing at Ben constantly needing to brush luminous blue crystalline dust off his food, until she'd taken pity on him and fed him off her own dust free plate. (That night he'd woken to her staring at him from her side of the bed. When his eyes met hers she'd reached out and touched her fingers to his hair, and after she pulled them away they glowed blue in the dark.) 

The sudden appearance of normally skittish and illusive sacred insects also meant that the planet's natives were suddenly amenable to talks about officially joining the reborn Republic. So while the rest of the group was sequestered in talks with the elders from multiple villages, he settled down onto the soft grass of the private garden they'd been given and closed his eyes in meditation. (The circumstances of his parole decreed an absolute ban on any dealings in any political movement and/or government….a decree that Poe conveniently forgot every time a senator started blabbering on about precedent and he needed a quick history lesson, or a if a thorny piece of Old Republic legislation needed to be unpicked, or if the Elder Houses were insisting on following some obscure tradition, or any number of things, really.)

He'd long since lost track of how long he'd been sitting there when he felt someone drop to the grass beside him. When this wasn't followed immediately by the usual gentle brush of Rey's mind against his own, he cracked his eyes open in confusion only to discover Rose Tico staring at him.

Unsure of what else to do, Ben stared back.

Rose's eyes flicked to the bug on his knee, before going back to his. A second later, they did it again. 

_ Oh. _

Gently, Ben scooped the brilliant blue creature into his hand. Slowly, Rose raised her own, much smaller one, palm open, her eyes wide, breath held.

The butterfly flapped its wings in agitation as Ben brought it closer to her, preparing to fly away-

_ It's all right, she's a…..friend. _ __   
__   
Carefully, he placed the tiny creature in Rose's hand. It flapped its wings a few more times, before settling, Rose's eyes widening in delight. 

They stayed like that for a moment before there was sudden movement across the garden, and another person seated themselves on Ben's opposite side. He looked over.

Finn's eyes caught his, and then darted to the bug perched on Ben's right arm. 

***

"Every time I think I've seen it all, the galaxy proves me wrong."

Rey, leaning against the doorway to the garden, looked over as Poe stepped up next to her. She smiled, "go in with no expectations, and you won't be."

Poe chuckled, "is that a Jedi teaching?"

"It's a Rey teaching." She nodded at the data pad in Poe's hand. "Success?"

"Signed and sealed," Poe said. "We are officially on the latest planet to join the Republic."

"I'm glad." Rey smiled wryly, "I hope it's worth it, because I'm pretty sure I'm not getting off this planet without entering into some sort of joint custody arrangement with a bunch of bugs over my husband."

Poe laughed. "It's worth it. We're actually doing it, Rey. We're building something, healing something. It feels...right."

"It does." Rey murmured. She raised an eyebrow. "Want to go hold a butterfly to celebrate?"

"You know what? I really do."


End file.
